HUSKY Health Pain Management Program

Welcome to the HUSKY Health Pain Management Program, where Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP) providers may readily access information and tools to safely and effectively manage patients dealing with chronic pain conditions. Included with the educational resources and references is an important and useful Treatment Planning Guide, along with tools for the evaluation, treatment, and management of patients receiving opioid medication for chronic pain.

It provides a detailed checklist for each recommended step in the comprehensive treatment of chronic pain:

Assessment

Informed Consent

Treatment Agreement Template

Initiate Treatment

Reassessment

Clinical Decision Making

Within each section of the Pain Management Treatment Planning Guide, a variety of resources are provided, including assessment tools, agreement forms, and clinical reference materials. All of these resources are summarized and also accessible within the Tools section of the HUSKY Health Pain Management program website.

Need help managing patients with chronic pain?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in determining when to initiate or continue opioids for chronic pain (pain lasting longer than 3 months or past the time of normal tissue healing), recommend the following:

Non-pharmacologic therapy and non-opioid pharmacologic therapy are preferred first line treatments for chronic pain, with opioid therapy being considered only after a risk benefit analysis shows that expected benefits for both pain and function are anticipated to outweigh risks to the patient. If used, opioids should be combined with non-pharmacologic therapy and non-opioid pharmacologic therapy, as appropriate.

Before starting opioid therapy, clinicians should establish treatment goals with all patients, including realistic goals for pain and function. Discontinuing opioid therapy if benefits do not outweigh risks should also be considered. Clinicians should continue opioid therapy only if there is clinically meaningful improvement in pain and function that outweighs risks to patient safety.

Before starting and periodically during opioid therapy, clinicians should discuss with patients the known risks and realistic benefits of opioid therapy, and patient and clinician responsibilities for managing therapy.

Additional guidance on the safe and effective use of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain is available through the Provider’s Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies (PCSS-O)*. PCSS-O is a national training and mentoring project developed in response to the prescription opioid overdose epidemic.

Intensive Care Management

Licensed Care Managers will work directly with you to share resources, coordinate care, and assist with making specialist referrals. To refer patients to the Intensive Care Management (ICM) program, providers may call 1.800.440.5071 and select the prompt for Intensive Care Management, or complete the ICM Referral Form. For additional information on the ICM program, please click here.

Provider Notification Program

On a quarterly basis, CMAP enrolled primary care physicians (PCP) will receive a notification letter when one or more of their patients have filled prescriptions for a high volume of opiod medications. The letters are strictly informational and are in no way intended to be a substitute for provider-directed medical evaluations and treatment.

*Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by Providers' Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

This portion of the HUSKY Health website is managed by Community Health Network of Connecticut, Inc., the State of Connecticut’s Medical Administrative Services Organization for the HUSKY Health Program. For the general HUSKY website gateway, please visit www.ct.gov/husky. HUSKY Health includes Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and is administered by the Connecticut Department of Social Services.